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Intro Ever wanted to be a cat? How about a custodian? Well, you'll get your chance to not only fulfill your furry fantasies, but also to control time in the Xbox's would-be mascot, Blinx, who is aptly subtitled, The Time Sweeper. Take Blinx through worlds that have had their time stolen by bandits and destroy the monsters that were created as a result. Even though interesting concepts abound in this long-awaited title, a layer of design flaws and poorly implemented features hinder a solid platformer that is still waiting for its time to shine. Gameplay: 6/10 Seeing Blinx arrive in the mail, in a cage used to keep animals for road trips no less, was a happy sight. While I had read about Blinx and had a grasp on the time-controlling nature of the title, I never fully understood the concept. Sure, I had heard it compared to TiVo, but it's not something I've ever used or seen. After spending a fair amount of time with the time-shifting custodian, I now understand the time aspect. While more than a mere gimmick, it's also cause for much of the game's frustration. Controlling time is a nifty feature and is handled well; the problems are with how the game handles its usage. Sprawled across the levels that make up the various themed worlds are crystals that are used to give Blinx his time-controlling power. He has four slots in which to store crystals, and holding three of a kind will give him that crystal's feature, while four of a kind will give him that feature twice over. The abilities include fast forward, pause, rewind, slow motion, and record, each of which is fairly self-explanatory. The abilities are standard enough, but the feature's lack of refinement in subtle areas is what weakens the overall aspect. There's no way to throw crystals out, so if you have two for a rewind and one for a pause, but then see three for a fast-forward, Blinx would have to grab one of the fast-forwards to cancel out the others he collected and grab those two in hopes that there's another one around the bin. Even if there are more of the same nearby, that is still a big waste of precious commodities. There will also be situations that call for a certain ability, and while the game tries to give the player as many as they need, there are times when it isn't enough. This is especially true for boss battles, where you need a certain feature, like pause, to defeat them. However, if instead of stacking up on pause, the player stacked up on rewind, they will get stomped, unless they can get to the needed crystals after they respawn - and after they figure out that what they have isn't needed. This isn't as troublesome as the in-game problems, though; in one instance, Blinx needed to be on two buttons, and to do so, must use record to have him run to an area in a set time. When that time is up, he is rewound back to his original spot, while his double goes where he did during the recording. Well, I missed once and although I made it through the double doors the second time, I was then knocked off the ledge by a bad guy and with no other means of getting crystals, I was forced to loaf around until the round's 10 minute time limit ended. Worrying about crystals isn't all Blinx will be doing; after all, he is a custodian. While in the worlds, he will be able to use his vacuum to pick up trash and then hurl it at enemies to damage them. For each piece of garbage he picks up, he will be given gold at the end of the level, though he will also find gold pieces with the levels themselves; these will be used to purchase upgraded goodies in the shop, whether it be an extra heart holder for extended life or a stronger vacuum. The shop idea is pretty interesting, and it's a small aspect of what Blinx's world is like. I wish more would have been done, like showing the army of cat custodians, but the intro is good enough. The various worlds are rather interesting. The levels that feature cities are fairly impressive, and all of the characters have a nice weight about them. The enemies are imaginative, albeit lacking in variety, and can be a challenge to dispatch due to the spotty auto-aiming system. Blinx will automatically target an enemy to attack, but often times the projectile would seemingly go through the enemy or miss them completely. It seemed as though they had to be within a small shot radius for the garbage to make contact; otherwise, what looked like a perfect shot would turn out to be a miss. Trying to regroup for another attack can also be a problem because Blinx is a bit of a slowpoke. Sure, his animations make it look like he is running, but he is getting nowhere fast. That really wasn't a huge problem, though as some areas did require a slower pace for more delicate jumping spots or to get the shot right. One problem throughout all aspects of the game was the camera angle - it was just too slow to be functional. Running around a ledge would turn the camera to face Blinx, but it would only be a few seconds later before it seemed to realize it was in the wrong area and would need to shift elsewhere. There are manual camera controls, which I ended up using most of the time, but when there's an auto feature, I shouldn't have to baby-sit. Even
with its problems, Blinx does manage to be an entertaining title. The time
control aspect remained fun and some portions really harkened back to the days
when platformers were king. My initial excitement with the title faded, but not
completely, and I think that shows one of the game's biggest benefits - it's just
interesting. Sure, some will think it silly, but the thought of being a cat that
is a janitor for various worlds was something I enjoyed, and the time aspect really
spiced things up. It's difficult to say if more development time could've hammered
out the problems, as it really seems to me like they were going out on a limb
with the feature and would have to see the final product to know if it worked
or not. Well, it worked -- kind of.
Graphics: 8.5/10 Sound:
9/10 Control:
5.5/10 Overall:
6.5/10 [ top ] | |||
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